Anonymous vandals sprayed a swastika on a Jewish frat house at Brandeis. No suspects have been named or arrested as of this writing.
Students at Massachusetts-based Brandeis University reported finding a swastika drawn on a house where the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) was hosting a party on Friday night.
Lisa M. Lynch, the university’s interim president, wrote in an email to students on Saturday that “crude graffiti involving a swastika [was] outlined in condensation on a window at a house where several Brandeis students live off-campus, and where an unofficial event hosted by a Jewish group was being held.”
Lynch called the spraying of the graffiti a “heinous act” that violated the university’s values and went against its “Jewish heritage.”
During its founding era, Brandeis—a Jewish-sponsored nonsectarian school—was known for embracing Jewish students when mainstream American universities had quotas for accepting Jews.
AEPi spokespeople confirmed the incident, but did not give further details.
US campuses have experienced a recent spike in anti-semitic incidents.
A recent study by Brandeis University’s Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and titled “Antisemitism and the College Campus: Perceptions and Realities” found that nearly 75 percent of respondents reported being exposed to “at least one of six anti-Semitic statements, including the claims that Jews have too much power.”
By: JNS.org and United with Israel Staff